LD 5101 
.S449 
1859 
Copy 1 



- 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS 



DELIVERED AT THE OPENING 



OF TIIK 



SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY, 



; . 



GREENSBORO, ALA., 



BY THE 






REV. \V. M. WIGHTMAN, I). IX, LL. I)., 



PRESIDENT OF TIIK l T NIVER8ITY. 






•UULISIIED BY REQUEST OF THE TRUSTEES. 



MARION, ALA.: 

(iK.oHCK C. ROGERS, PRINTER. 

1859. 



I 



«* M 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS 



DELIVERED AT THE OPENING 



OF THE 



SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY, 



GBEENSBORO, ALA., 



BY THE 



^ 



s 



REV. W, M. WIGHTMAN, D. D., LL. D, 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE TRUSTEES. 




MARION, ALA. : 

GEORGE C. ROGERS, PRINTER. 
1859, 



ADDRESS. 



Wo meet to-day to inaugurate the Southern University. The 
period of anxious, hopeful preparation is past, The time for action 
has come. This brilliant assembly, these venerable ministers of re- 
ligion, these honored trustees, this company of young men, this group 
of learned Professors — all, witnesses of these Inaugural solemnities, 
are but the representatives to fancy, of that august cloud of witnesses, 
— our contemporaries in various parts of the land, our successors in 
generations to come, who hang over the scene with solemn interest. 
To this spot, henceforth hallowed as the shrine of letters, of science 
and philosophy, the sanctuary of that divine Truth which encompas- 
ses and ennobles all the rest, come from far the thoughts and sympa- 
thies, the wishes and prayers of patriotism and piety. And if there 
be less of objective glitter and force of impression in the circum- 
stances which surround us than might be found in the coronation of 
an Emperor or the inauguration of a President, to a profound think- 
er who grasps remote results and ultimate consequences to societ}" 
and the individual, to civilization and to Christianity, there would be 
in the opening of a great seat of learning a force of moral impression 
which no military pomp or civic splendors could enhance. We are 
about putting in motion instrumentalities noiseless as the vernal in- 
fluences, but as potent, The subject of these agencies is the human 
mind in its plastic, formative period — the most precious thing on 
earth. The end aimed at is the culture of this mind, the unfolding 
of its capabilities, the placing it in harmonious relation to the great 
plan of divine Providence, the expansion of its immortal faculties 
which point to other stages of existence, and embrace eternity as their 
proper field ; — in a word, the realization of the grand Idea of Hu- 
manity. The means brought into requisition comprehend all rules 
of discipline that tie down the student to specified periods of mental 
labour, and produce habits of methodical and patient investigation. 
In this retreat from the noise of the great world, the lessons of heav- 
enly wisdom from the divine Book address him every day. Classic- 
literature is made to open its golden treasures to his view. Abstract 
Mathematical science, History, the Belles Lettres. Physical science, 



[4] 

the Philosophy of mind, of morals, of politics j — all influences that 
expand thought .purify taste, nurse reflection, develope energy ,kindle 
enthusiasm, inspire the wish and direct the aim of excellence, are 
laid under contribution. And the finished product of all this elab- 
orate care is the man of culture and refinement, fitted to adorn the pri- 
vate walks of life, the patron of every improvement ; the statesman 
who carries into the councils of his country the love which cherishes 
.and the ability which can defend her liberty and augment her glory ; 
the sdholar furnished with inexhaustible resources of refined enjoy- 
ment, an examp!le>of the highest forms of intellectual cultivation; — 
the christian minister glowing with lofty and sanctified zeal, a light 
to them that sit in darkness, a guide to the wandering, pointing their 
steps to the gates of heaven and leading the way. 

This University rises as the noblest monument erected to sanctified 
learning by the munificence of the Southern Methodist Episcopal 
Church. The annual Conference of Alabama felt the need, 
in behalf of the large and growing community it represents, of a cen- 
tral Institution of learning, of high grade, broad and comprehensive 
plan, ample endowments, and commanding influence. An inquiry 
was set on foot to ascertain whether the members of the Church and 
the friends of liberal education in general, would support a really 
great movement. The result is what you this day see. The response 
presents you with the noblest instance and illustration of confidence, 
co-operation and liberality known to the history of the Church in the 
direction of liberal education. We have the proof before us, that 
the enterprise which conceives large plans for the public good, and 
aims at far-reaching results as well as the supply of immediate wants, 
is apt to be met with the energy begotten of confidence, and impelled 
by enthusiasm. Ourmen of wealth have contributed their tens of 
thousands ; persons in more limited circumstances have not withheld 
their gifts; a charter of ample provisions and singular privileges 
has been granted by the State ; this imposing structure has arisen ; 
others, corresponding in elegance and devoted to the uses of the 
University, are in process of erection ; an endowment of between two 
and three hundred thousand dollars has been secured; the services of 
literary and scientific gentlemen of established reputation, as a Facul- 
ty of instruction, have been laid under contribution ; and this auspi- 
cious day witnesses the commencement of a career, destined, we de- 
voutly trust, to meet the largest expectations of the Conference; to 
remunerate a thousand fold those who have laid out their most liber- 
al investments of property, of labour, of anticipation, and of prayer ; 



[5] 

a career through all coming time, illustrious and blessed ; which will 
promote public liberty; rear great men — the special want of repre- 
sentative governments; advance intellectual refinement; and diffuse 
the blessings of a christian culture and civilization over ever-widen- 
ing circles. 

Standing in the midst of facts and auguries like these, pardon me 
if you judge the warmth of my enthusiasm somewhat excessive. I 
confess to have been deeply touched by one aspect of the case. We 
are on the edge of "the garden of Alabama." Below us stretches 
out a belt of country unparallelled in fertility. Far as the eye can 
reach, the magnificent spectacle, meets it, of that great crop which 
clothes the world and sustains American commerce. Of the forty, 
two millions of dollars which the last crop brought to South Alabama, 
the canebrake lands furnished no mean portion. I have asked my- 
self the question — what is to be the result of this vast material pros- 
perity ? Are these annual accumulations of wealth destined to be 
turned into fixed capital for still ampler gains ? — or expended in lux- 
urious living ? Can the old Republican simplicity of manners long 
survive this inundation of wealth ? Is the coming generation of rich 
mens' sons doomed to be a degenerate breed, lapped in opulence and 
dandled in ease and luxury, the prey of these vices which haunt the 
abodes of the indolent and effeminate ? Can the religion of the 
Cross, with its severe and holy law of absolute consecration of prop- 
erty as well as genius, of talents and gifts of all kinds to the service 
of Christ, be expected to live through many generations in the sti- 
fling atmosphere of a prosperity such as this ? 

"When questionings of this sort have arisen, I have turned my 
eyes to the heaven-pointing towers of this Institution, and bidden 
away my anxieties. Here is the proof that our men of wealth know 
how to act as God's stewards, by consecrating their property to the 
best uses. Here is the pledge that our prosperity is destined to be 
not a curse but a blessing, a public benefaction and an honorable dis- 
tinction. In the rise of this munificently endowed University, I see 
more than the groveling utilitarianism which would fain foster science 
because it may invent a machine, intensify a manure, or enlarge a 
crop j or, in a word, help us to make more money. I see the mani- 
festation of nobler views of duty, of man, of the destiny of our coun- 
try, th^an are comprehended merely in the development of physical re- 
sources, the building of Hail Roads, or the art of elegant architecture. 
In rearing a seat of christian learning like this, you have made a 
grand contribution to letters, to science, to aesthetic tastes, to morals, 



[6] 

to free institutions, to good government, to religious culture : — and 
without these, what after all, are broad lands, waving harvests, the 
cotton-gin and the steam-engine ? — what to us ; what to the genera- 
tions to come! 

The German University realizes the highest ideal of European in- 
stitutions of that class. It is well styled the culminating point of 
public instruction • the common school, and the Gymnasium which 
corresponds generally to the American College, furnishing prelimina- 
ry stages of education. It embraces four Faculties, Theology, Law, 
Medicine, and Philosophy or Arts. Each of these employs the ser- 
vices of Ordinary and Extraordinary Professors, Privatim Docentes — 
licenced Lecturers, made up chiefly of graduates of the University. 
All the instruction is carried on by means of lectures, the students 
selecting at their option, the course they wish to attend. The En- 
glish Universities are collections of Colleges and Halls, each possess- 
ing its separate buildings and library, its own Head, and Tutors and 
students. The University possesses the authority of examining stu- 
dents and conferring decrees : inmost other respects it stands nomi- 
nis umbra. The instruction of the under graduates passed by de- 
grees into College halls from University lecture rooms, and finally 
into the hands of private Tutors. Thus, to a great extent, the Uni- 
versity course of study is abolished ; "the shreds of the Professorial 
system/' in the language of Sir Wm. Hamilton, "are now little more 
than curious vestiges of antiquity; and boys who ought to be under 
the strict discipline which properly belongs to the Gymnasium, are 
endowed with a University freedom which ends, in regard to many 
of the students, in frivolity and dissipation." 

In this country which originally derived its Collegiate system main- 
ly from that of the English Universities, the Colleges both furnish 
instruction and confer degrees. The terms University and College; 
are therefore very often used interchangeably. Their ordinary 
method of instruction by daily class recitations combined with occa- 
sional lectures,rescmbles more the German Gymnasium system than 
the University practice ) and is decidedly preferable for the class of 
youths who frequent their halls, many of them of tender age, and whose 
preparatory studies in the department of literal arts have not been 
sufneiently completed to enable them to pursue an extended and 
thorough course by means of learned lectures. Three or four, out of 
the multitude of American Colleges, are L'niversitics. in the full sense 
of the term, embracing in addition to the Faculty of Arts, the Facul- 
ties of Theology, Law, and Medicine; and combining professional 



m 

education with that liberal and thorough training which should be 
sought independently of all professional ends. There are others of 
our Colleges which furnish facilities for prosecuting an extended 
course in the liberal arts, after the completion of the regular curricu- 
lum and graduation: Others still, embrace in their arrangements 
provisions for regular instruction in Divinity, Law, and scientific- 
schools. In this class, the founders and guardians of the Southern 
University have placed the institution whose exercises are now inau- 
gurated. Their scheme embraces eight distinct, permanent Profes- 
sorships : — that, namely, of Moral Philosophy, of Ancient Languages, 
of Mathematics, of Natural Philosophy, of Chemistry, of Modern 
Languages, of Biblical Literature, and of Law. Five of these chairs 
have been filled ; and the institution is prepared to give full instruc- 
tion in the Collegiate department embracing the usual curriculum in 
the Faculty of arts and Philosophy, together with an extensive course 
in civil Engineering. The University department will be opened and 
provided for, just as the demand of the public and the growth of the 
institution indicate the proper time. 

While for all the purposes of the former department, the endow- 
ment already secured may be considered sufficient, yet to carry out 
the full design of the institution, in the latter department, and to 
•make it a chosen and worthy resort of our own graduates and of those 
of our numerous Colleges, as a centre of Professional schools of the 
highest grade, additional buildings, extensive Libraries, full cabinets, 
and an observatory furnished with instruments of the best powers are 
needed. It is to be hoped that our worthy and energetic A°-ent 
will slacken neither zeal nor effort ; and that the munificent offerings 
of the friends of such a seat of learning in the heart of the cotton- 
growing States — Southern from foundation to battlement — will not 
cease until the full sum of 8500,000 is secured. From our present 
point of view, looking backward, we see ground for the most confi- 
dent expectation for the future. Our success thus far, furbishes 
a powerful incentive to carry out in triumphant evolution the most 
enlarged plans of the founders and friends of the institution. 

Having stated in the most general terms, the arrangements set on 
foot by the Trustees of the Southern University, I shall avail myself 
of your indulgence for a few observations on the subject of a proper 
standard of scholarship and a suitable curriculum of studies; of the 
modes of instruction and discipline best adapted to the end contem- 
plated in the course of study ; and the necessity for the amplest pro- 
visions, open to us in the nature of the case, for the interpenetration, 



[8] 

through the whole process of liberal education, of the spirit and life 
of religion. 

What is the true criterion by which to determine a curriculum of 
studies in the Faculty of Arts, in an institution of learning which 
claims to belong to the highest grade ? Two answers may be given. 
First, we may make the extensive impartation of knowledge as a 
preparation for active life, the standard and test by which we judge 
of the function of an educational course. Practical utility, which is 
able to connect the whole concensus of studies with results that have 
marketable value, furnishes this criterion. Scientific information 
directed to the regulation and direction of the various Glasses of 
human activities, and fitting one by an ample classification of knowl- 
edge and stock of facts, for the earnest business of practical life — 
this is held to be the ideal of liberal education. 

In the second place, we find a much higher and truer criterion in 
the symmetrical development and thorough training of the mental 
powers. The true value of liberal education, according to this stand- 
ard, is estimated neither by the extent of information put into the 
mind, nor by the fitness it is supposed to give for particular business 
pursuits in after life ; but rather by the unfolding and drawing out 
of the intellectual faculties to the full extent of their capacity, in 
harmonious proportion, and with the greatest efficiency and precision. 
Training mainly, and information subordinately, I hold to be the 
proper theory of scholastic education. According to this criterion, 
whatever course of studies tends most directly and fully to cultivate 
the powers of the mind, to awaken and expand the taste, and produce 
habits of patience, accuracy, method, and mental ability, is the best 
for the grand purposes of liberal education. 

That there should be a period of general scholastic culture, going 
Before the time of strictly professional studies, is easily shown. The 
general improvement of the mind fits its activities for the most rapid 
and thorough mastery of the speciality involved in the professional 
course. The habits of analysis and methodical progression, of manly 
grapple with difficulty, and thorough investigation, hare been formed 
in the foregoing education. They are vigorously and successfully 
applied in the particular direction which the professional education 
now takes. The collegiate discipline has impressed the abiding ap- 
titude of looking for the general principle amidst the details of man- 
ifold facts; of binding up those facts into system by means of the 
underlying principle, and thus of reducing them to a science. This 
philosophising spirit, the most generous of the products of scholastic 



[9] 

culture, is carried into every department of after study, and becomes 
the instrument of the mind's highest and most rapid achievements, 
while it supplies ever fresh sources of satisfaction and invigoration to 
the advancing intellect. 

And furthermore: the mind is protected against the tendency to 
narrowness and one-sidedness in the unfolding of its powers. This 
tendency is the necessary result of the principle of the division of 
labour on which professional studies are all based. The very forces 
which move civilization on its triumphant career, endanger the dis- 
tortion of the individual intellect. By aforegoing liberal education, 
however, we preserve the balance of its native adjustments, and carry 
out the circle of its growing powers at all points. We liberalize its 
views and give breadth to its sympathies. We infuse the tone of 
courage and independence. We expose it to the hardening of the 
mountain breeze, and open to it a horizon on all sides, before it goes 
down into the struggle of its particular pursuit in life. It is thus 
less in danger of becoming a mere cog or band in the vast machine 
to which our modern utilitarianism would fain reduce society. 

A course of studies in the faculty of the liberal arts, according to 
the criterion just laid down, would embrace not only a variety of sub- 
jects, but such a selection of the different departments of human 
knowledge as experience has shown to be best fitted for the mind's 
outgrowth. Art, Science and Philosophy are the fundamental de- 
partments of a proper curriculum. The first includes language, lit- 
erature and aesthetics, in their broadest connections; the second em- 
braces Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Chemistry; the third, 
moral, mental and political Philosophy. Each of these departments 
tends to develope a particular class of the activities. One trains the 
analytical faculty, another the generalizing; one developes the crit- 
ical, another the speculative. In one direction the judgment is sub- 
jected to discipline, in another, the taste. The memory is exercised, 
but not at the expense of the reason ; the imagination is unfolded 
and trained in harmonious movement with the grasp and vigour of 
the discursive faculty. The habit of attention — the art of "being a 
whole man to one thing at a time" is formed. Facts are compre- 
hended in general principles. Sytem and method preside over the 
entire intellectual movement; and the love of truth, the sense of the 
beautiful, and the force of duty become the master impulses. Thus 
we have the elements of mental power in harmonious combination 
and perfect balance, making the possessore* well-educated man. 
There has been no small effort made, of late years, to improve 



[10] 

apon the scheme of liberal studies which has obtained the suffrages 
of many past generations. The physical sciences have made exten- 
sive and rapid advances during the last half-century. Commerce and 
the extraordinary facilities for oceanic intercourse have drawn the 
leading nations into much closer communication. A knowledge of 
three or four modern languages seems very desirable on the part of 
all persons liberally educated. And the very currents of American 
life tend to hurry young men onward as rapidly as possible upon 
active, business engagements. Urgent demands are made for a re- 
vision of the whole scheme of our higher education. In one direc- 
tion enlargement is claimed; in another, elimination; in another the 
admission of entirely new branches of science; yet no one advocates 
the lengthening of a college course to six years. We may see a 
somewhat amusing instance of the drift of popular clamour, in the 
declaration of one of the oracles of Northern opinion, that a youth 
may have learned all that the schools and universities teach, and still 
be a pitiably ignorant man, unable to earn a week's subsistence. "A 
master of Latin and Greek," this authority adds, "who does not know 
how to grow potatoes, is far more imperfectly educated than many an 
unlettered backwoodsman." 

The whole tribe of objections to the ordinary course of liberal 
studies, of which the foregoing is somewhat of an extreme illustra- 
tion, may be answered in one word; — the paramount intention of the 
process to which a young man is subjected in his college course, is 
the highest possible improvement of his mind. How a man is to 
get a living ; how he shall best and soonest acquire the practical skill 
— the faculty of work, by which he makes his week's or year's sub- 
sistence, is an important question, doubtless- But it is not the ques- 
tion which college life seeks to answer. To a starving man a meal 
of "potatoes" even, may, for the moment, be of greater importance 
than the treasures of the Vatican or Bodleian libraries — or all the 
gold, for that matter, of Australia. The absurdity consists in the 
elevation of the lowest type of physical labour to a plane with the 
highest intellectual tasks, as an instrument of mental cultivation. 
The mind's growth is a dynamical product, a living, becoming pro- 
cess, which works vigorously from within, and differs essentially from 
mechanical accretions, put on from without. Or, as DeQuincey finely 
expresses the same thing : — "'no doctrine of importance, no complete 
truth can be transferred in a matured shape, into any man's under- 
standing from without; it must arise by an act of genesis within the 
understanding itself." The crucial test of a seat of learning; is not 



[11] 

the cram of what it affects to put into the mind, of multifarious 

knowledge, of scientific or even useful information; but the success 

with which it leads out the mental faculties, gives the largi 

of intellectual power and refinement, and cultivates the bust habits of 

thinking. 

Instead of yielding to the intensely practical genius of 
the age and country, and to the demands to make our higher institu- 
tions of learning mere professional schools, these institutions ought 
but the more steadily to maintain the true position, and hold forth 
the sound doctrine. They should firmly resist the Idyllic sentiment- 
ality which is prepared to sacrifice sound and thorough scholarship 
at the shrine of showy but superficial accomplishments. To the 
utilitarian improvisation which demands that we teach in four years 
the omne scibile, and carry our ingenuous young men, fagging at 
mere elements and barren formulae, stript of enthusiasm and weary of 
foot, around the vast cycle of knowledge, ending the whole affair 
which attempted every thing, in learning nothing, we should oppose 
the maxim of the truest and soundest utility, that superficial training 
and learned ignorance involve the most ruinous of costs. A high 
authority has said that it is far more improving to read one good 
book ten times, than to read ten good books once : non rnulta scd 
mullum, — little perhaps, but accurate, has from ancient times ob- 
tained the authority of an axiom in education, from all who had any 
title to express an opinion on the subject. "A chapter critically 
and thoroughly mastered," says another high authority, "is worth 
more than a volume hastily gone over, considered either as the 
means of intellectual culture, or as a facility to further progress." 

While the extreme is avoided on the one hand, of attempting to do 
more than can be done well and thoroughly, on the other hand full 
and exact occupation must be furnished to the student. His work 
must be directed by the guiding principle of eliciting on his part the 
largest amount of mental energy, "lie who has conceived the purpose," 
says Dr. Olin, "of making of himself so considerable^ thing as a wan, 
may, at the outset, lay his account with no trivia! expenditure of toil 
and painstaking." The Professor, it is true, sustains an important 
relation to this process. But his efforts arc only conditional ; the 
mental effort of the student is properly causal. Our entire scholastic 
apparatus is designed to call out, to encourage, to watch over this effort, 
by no means to supplant it. We want no easy method*, no shortened 
oute, no empiric Pestalozzianism, such as that which some years ago un- 
dertook to teach arithmetic by an instrument called the arithmometer, 



[12] 

and Geometry by another, called the mathemometer, by which the 
propositions of Euclid were supposed to be reduced to the comprehension 
of young children, and all Mathematics made easy! As well attempt 
to make a man out of a child simply by putting upon him the manly toga. 
Could Mathematics thus be made easy, we should need to turn that 
ancient science out of the course, and find something else that is 
difficult. The thinking faculty grows only by its own thinking. 
Apart from the vigorous exercise of thought, the instruction of books 
and teachers is to the student very much a traffic in unmeaning 
words — something like the luminous explanation of the steam-engine, 
in one of Horace Smith's characters: — "There is a thing that goes up 
and down, whichls the hydrostatic principle.'" 

The scholastic discipline of the Southern University, in the colle- 
giate department, will require three daily recitations, each prepared 
carefully by a couple of hours' study of the text. Each officer will 
seek, by an exact examination in the recitation-room, to ascertain 
what the student has been able to do for himself in the preparation- 
room, during the hours of study. The society of a college coterie is 
no doubt pleasant. Books of general literature, reviews and newspa- 
pers furnish easy reading beyond dispute. To the embryo poet noth- 
ing were more delightful than to court the muses — "to sport with 
Amaryllis in the shade, and play with the tangles of Nseera's hair." 
But young gentlemen come here not in search of gratifications for 
the imagination, but to secure the elements of intellectual greatness. 
Whoever enrols himself a student of the University, voluntarily 
places himself under its training. He must make up his mind to 
the daily drill. He must expect to have his energies tasked-*-his 
sinews made strong by manly exercise. The study which involves 
thinking — the hardest kind of thinking ; the study which is pursued 
■ upon a plan, systematically, courageously, will soon become both his 
incitement and reward. "Genius is patience" says Buffon. 

The student to whom scholastic pursuits furnish full employment ; 
whose aims are high ; and who turns with genial ardour and scholar- 
ly aspiration to his work, is removed from many of the liabilities 
which beset college life. He who has only half-work, and whose 
selection goes in favour of those departments of education which 
commend themselves as involving least labour, finds time on his 
hands upon which academic duty seems to hold no claims. A very 
favourable condition is thus supplied for the approach of temptation. 
Alas ! like the face of an April sky, youth has its changing hues, 
now bright then dark ) its hours of promise, and its fast-coming 



[13] 

shadows to obscure the loveliness of that smiling promise. The 
danger is great to the extent in which the hold upon the affectionate 
respect of students by their officers is small. If, as it sometimes un- 
fortunately happens, there should prevail a spirit that regards the 
faculty as a government in respect to which opposition is the normal 
and natural position of students; if the college administration should 
be more punctilious about small regulations, minute exactions, and 
trifling points of honour, than careful to maintain the influence which 
results from affectionate regard, and firm and able discharge of duty ; 
if the power of religion should be low, and the chapel lend little aid 
to the administration ; and no heavenly visitations come, ever and 
again, in the form of college revivals, then the reliance must be on 
what one of our accomplished authors calls "the esthetic conscience/' 
—a sense of what is tasteful and becoming in the proprieties of good 
breeding and refinement. But experience shows that we cannot 
count too confidently on this. Popular sentiment in the college com- 
munity has a tendency observable elsewhere, to override the private 
conscience. Young men of general respectability will too often 
swim with the stream . Undue reliance is placed in the power of com- 
bination. A season of agitation produces an emeute. The heroes of 
the barricades dictate terms and enjoy the sport, until the penalties 
are pronounced ; and then suspension or expulsion turns out to be a 
somewhat abrupt and tragic close to the brief season of merriment. 
The catastrophe— injurious to all parties, as well as the preliminaries, 
might, in many instances, have been forestalled, had there been 
work enough for each student, and had there existed, from the first, 
a more cordial understanding between students and officers. 

The non-resident policy which has been established here, has work- 
ed elsewhere with decided advantage. There is one result which is 
open to the most casual observation. This policy identifies the stu- 
dents to a large extent with the town community. They live in the 
families of the citizens, and become personally known to those fami- 
lies. To whatever extent the softening and refining and restraining 
influences of the family are felt— and they are among the most pre- 
cious that can be brought to bear upon young men— the whole ten- 
dency is toward a good understanding and cordial fellow-feeling be- 
tween the parties, producing respect on the one side, and affectionate 
interest on the other. 

On the subject of admitting students, I must ask your indulgence 
for a remark or two. Defective scholarship has been the opprobrium 
of American higher education. The foundation for this, however, 



is most commonly laid in the want of adequate preparation in the 
lower schools of instruction. An imperfectly trained teacher can 
hardly be expected to turn out thoroughly trained pupils. Superfi- 
cial attainments in the master, perpetuate themselves in his scholars. 
Thus it not unfrequently happens that in the Freshman year at col- 
lege, a student "has to be unmade before he can be made." The 
higher order of instruction proper to a Professor's chair, must be sub- 
stituted by instruction in the elements. Habits of superficial study 
must be extirpated ; in a word, the Professor must take the place and 
perforin the functions of the academic teacher. To supply a proper 
corrective, we should go to the source of the evil, which lies in the 
public sentiment of the country. American life goes at too fast a 
pace. We have not time enough to give our sons an elaborate and 
thorough preparation for the college course. This impatience of 
parents must be checked, if they desire for their sons the most pre- 
cious fruits of liberal training Restraint must be put upon the 
eagerness of our youth to take the Preparatory or College course at a 
gallop, as though learning were the prize of a steeple-chase. In fine, 
a weighty obligation, as I conceive, rests upon the Faculties of our 
higher institutions of learning, to maintain a firmer attitude in admit- 
ting uader-graduates. Let the extent of the applicant's preparation 
be tested by an exact examination, and let the class be assigned him 
for which he is really prepared in accordance with the requirements 
of a high standard. If this be judged inexpedient in colleges which 
depend on their patronage to pay their ofiicers, in the Southern 
University at least, where no such embarrassment exists, it is due 
to the Board of Trustees, to this community, to the sentiment of 
the Alabama Conference, and to public expectation, that the Facul- 
ty should insist upon a standard of preparation equal to that of the 
foremost seat of learning in this country. We can very well afford 
— to use a popular term — to be exact and even stringent, though at 
the cost of not having our halls crowded at first. We are only sur- 
rendering to-day to a more brilliant to-morrow. Our policy is sure 
to win, at no distant day, the confidence of the country. While it 
confers a public benefaction it will secure an honourable distinc- 
tion. 

I must content myself with a brief reference to another topic, 
worthy of a larger notice. An earnest application to study must, of 
necessity, exhaust the vital power and endanger the physical health. 
A compensating element in public education which shall preserve 
the equilibrium of the nervous and muscular systems, so necessary 



[15] 

to a healthy brain, ami keep the Btomaoh free from the troubles of 
dyspepsia, is very desirable. Healthful mental recreation in con- 
nection with bodily exercise, is the desideratum. G-ymnastics and 
ealistheuics, pursued as a system, and particularly under a master's 
eye, would be apt, as soon as the novelty wore away, to degenerate 
into a task and burden, stript of the exhilaration necessary to sus- 
tain the physical exertion. I know not that I can recommend any 
thing better than the system generally adopted by the students of 
the English Universities. At Cambridge, Bristcd tells us, the 
sponge and horse-bair glove are among the regular accessories of the 
student's toilet. His exercise is as much a daily necessity to him 
as his food \ and by exercise he means all combinations of fresh air 
and muscular exercise which shake a man well up, and bring big 
drops from all his pores. The staple exercise is walking. Two 
hours are devoted to it, in all states of the weather. Between two 
and four o'clock, all the roads in the neighborhood of Cambridge — 
that is to say within four miles of it, are covered with men taking 
their "constitutionals. " Eight hours' a day is the ordinary amount 
of study gone through by the aid of this eight miles' walk. The 
vigor of the Euglish constitution, and the length of years attained 
by a large proportion of their public men, are to be attributed very 
much to the "constitutionals" of their educational life. In the 
American student, who has not been pained, often, to see, instead of 
the brawny chest, and hard muscle, aud high health, 

"The aching eye, 

The pallid cheek, the trembling frame, the head, 
Throbbing with thought, and torn with agony"— 

the result of ambitious aspiration, close application, and dread of 
fresh air and regular exercise. 

Religious instruction, as connected with our forms of higher edu- 
cution, presents one of the most important aspects of the whole sub- 
ject. Mental culture acquired at the expense of hearty religious con- 
victions, involves a serious cost. Literature and science are properly 
hand-maids to religion. When they become antagonists, and are 
made to array themselves against Christianity, the evil assumes a 
portentous magnitude. Institutions of learning based upon the so-call- 
ed "liberal principle" which excludes religion from education or im- 
poses a total silence on the subject, from the apprehension of offend- 
ing the prejudices of religionists or awakening the antipathies of un- 
believers, are obviously unfitted by that very principle to meet the 
demands of a christian time and country. Public sentiment right- 
eously requires that the men to whose training the youth of a chris- 



[16] 

tiari people are entrusted, should be neither infidel nor neutral on the 
great question of Christianity ; and that their instructions even when 
religion is not the direct subject of investigation, should be pervaded 
by the christian animus. Denominational Colleges and Universities 
have grown out of a persuasion of this kind, very generally felt. 

On the other hand, it is very possible that more may be expected 
of institutions reared by the liberality of the Church, than can ordina- 
rily be realized. Very possibly, many a father who hoped to turn 
over the responsibility of furnishing his sons with religious knowl- 
edge and christian principles, to some one of the great educational 
centres of the Church, meanwhile neglecting his own duty, may be 
doomed to disappointment. You must allow me to remind you that 
religious culture begins at the fireside and the family altar. Charac- 
ter is moulded, and often destiny shaped, by home instructions and 
family influences. Religious training goes back to the cradle, and 
involves dedication to God in infancy, instruction in the principles of 
divine truth as the mind opens, and proper restraint with advancing 
years. Besides, there is the powerful influence which comes from 
parental, christian example, silent it may be, as the great powers of 
nature, but mighty to mould the plastic heart of childhood — mightier 
perhaps, than words or arguments. Let no parent presume to think 
that he can devolve on others the duty of thus training his children. 
Nor let the church at large indulge the delusion that denominational 
schools can preserve the primitive spirit of religion, fresh and vital, 
if once it has fallen into general decadence in the family and Home. 
Our trust is that the large majority of young gentlemen who may 
matriculate at this institution, will bring with them those religious 
impressions and moulds of early habit which a pious training at home 
has formed.- No doubt, parental anxiety will follow them hither. 
The prayer of many a mother will reach the ear of God in behalf of 
her son, as he plies his daily tasks here. The memory of many a 
father's counsels and example will rise in influential forms, in the 
hour of temptation. This is the ground-work of our hope that pub- 
lic education may be truly christianized. 

It will be observed, moreover, that denominational institutions of 
learning, distinct though they are from theological schools, secure in 
their Faculties a unanimity of religious sentiment, and a cordiality 
of religious co-operation, which are most auspicious to the full effect 
of religious example, instructions, and measures. In addition to scho- 
lastic accomplishments, a Professor to meet the full responsibilities 
of his position, should possess strength of faith, devotional fervour, 



[17] 

a habit of affectionate intercourse with students, and a tender inter- 
est in their spiritual welfare. These elements of character can, in an 
institution of the Church, have free scope; all may be combined into 
a predominant religious influence, presiding over the functions and 
offices of education, pervading them all as a vital, hallowing presence. 

The Greek New Testament holds the place of honour among all 
the text-books of the Southern University, since it alone is carried 
through the whole course, from matriculation to graduation. It 
is the authentic record of that Gospel which will be preached here — 
I trust, "not in word only, but in demonstration of the spirit and with 
power." This is the heaven-appointed instrument of man's con- 
version, edification, and salvation. In its truth, in its power, in its 
suitableness to all stages of culture, all advances of civilization, all 
ages and conditions, we have an unquestioning confidence. It 
alone can turn the moral darkness of man into a day of glory. "It 
is perfect, converting the soul." It is eminently the guide of youth. 
From the height of its majesty the Gospel looks down on all research 
of thought, all progress of science and social improvement; it lends 
its aid to all, but borrows none. Omnipotence moves through its 
agencies, and its provisions grasp all interests, and ages and worlds. 
Its God is "the God of salvation;" and nature, whose elements fell down 
at his feet and acknowledged his power, in the days of his flesh, still 
does homage to his glory in the voice of seas and thunders — its stars his 
torch-bearers — its nebular firmaments chiming the chorus of his praise. 

When I bid you rely on the power of the Gospel, as one of the 
chief means by which a pervading christian influence is to be hoped 
for in this Institution, you will understand me to mean that the 
original system of truth and grace revealed in the New Testament 
will be adhered to in its full integrity and strength. The great 
substance of that truth — "God so loved the world that he gave his 
only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not per- 
ish, but have everlasting life" — will not be darkened into a dreamy 
mysticism, which, passing through the light of divine truth without 
catching its irradiations, soars to the region of the transcendental, in 
the dim wanderings of sentimentality; — nor transmuted into the 
mummeries of a poor formalism which substitutes for the life of 
God in the soul of man, pantomime and pageant, the mere masquer- 
ade of worship — finds religion in certain styles of ecclesiastical arch- 
itecture, and sanctity in a particular quarter of the sky — and instead 
of feeding the soul with knowledge, holds up to the eye the painted 
toys of a puerile superstition. 



[18] 

Nor will a gospet, according to science, take the place of the 
«glad tidings,- as the instrument of the soul's regeneration Let 
metaphysical philosophy push its analysis into the secret places of 
tne mindj and fathom the depthg Qf spontaneitjj autQ - and 

liberty, which constitute its personality; these researches all ter- 
minate in the discovery of humanity in self-conflict; all the specu- 
lations of psychology point to the God-man, who alone can confer 
spiritual life. Let nature display her august Temple, and open to 
the view of science, its deep foundations. We trace the forces 
which were in play beneath the crystalizations of the solid granite. 
We read in the stony sepulchres which entomb the dead of long 
cycles of past animal existence, the power of that Almighty One 
with whom "a thousand years are as one day." We approach the 
vestibule. Organization the most exquisite, adaptations the most 
perfect, stand open to observation. Visions and voices meet the 
rational insight on every hand. We perceive the eternal archetypes 
which were in the Supreme Keason, and catch the sentiment of the 
sublime in dimly apprehending the supernatural. But science 
strives in vain to raise the curtain which shuts out the inner shrine 
Beyond that veil shines in pavilioned glory, the majesty ineffable 
and unapproachable, of the Uncreated Mind. Standing with un^ 
covered head and awed spirit in the outer court, unable fc> catch a 
glimpse, yet wondering and longing, the gospel lifts the veil and 
reveals to man "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in 
the face of Jesus Christ." And the theme of all our preaching is 
"Christ crucified:" "the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." 

In this new seat of learning, then, let the authority and influence 
of Christianity be enthroned as supreme over its whole scheme of 
educational influences. August is its function, the culture of the 
faculties of mind-the unfolding of the divine gifts of reason, judg- 
ment and invention-treasures in comparison to which princely 
revenues are dross, and hereditary titles mere courtly gew-aws •-! 
powers which construct and defend governments, institutions, laws • 
which invent the mighty steam-engine, and create the immortal 
poem, and forge the massive links of the grand oration; which 
adorn civilization, bridge oceans, girdle continents, and bind nation 
to nation: -powers which lift the torch upon the "dark backward 
and abysm of time," and read the hieroglyphics written on the 
stratified rocks of primeval ages :-powers which climb upward to 
the stars; interpret their shining syllables, and enter "the unfolded 
gates burning in the sun.- Sublimer still, its office to measure 



[19] 

the fearful greatness of the mind by its immortal destination ; by 
the tragic grandeur of its very disorders; by the magnificent reach 
of its insatiable cravings ; by the cost of its redemption ; by the 
doom of the last day : — to lift up all the knowledge here imparted 
to the scale of its immortality; and to point its wandering destinies 
to the Cross of the Son of God, as the centre of all light and hope. 

In the humble hope that whatever of experience, of capability, 
of industry I possess may, by the blessing of God, be rendered 
tributary to these great ends, I assume, with unaffected self-distrust, 
the weighty responsibilities of the office to which the partiality of 
the Board of Trustees has invited me. If by the divine help we 
may succeed in carrying out into full practical effect the principles 
just adverted to, I shall entertain the confident expectation that 
the future alumni of the Southern University will turn to it as the 
place where the most tender friendships have been formed; around 
which, in after life, shall cling the most delightful, hallowed re- 
miniscences. With prophetic insight into the future, I should see 
the successive processions of graduates, as they passed away from 
our rostrum with the blessing of their Alma Mater, reappearing in 
the great world, men of mark, in whom shining ability would not 
be substituted for large and devout spirit, nor splendour of talent 
for the virtues of private character, nor a surface of graceful accom- 
plishments be found to cover corruption at the heart. I should see, 
as the result of high intellectual cultivation in wedlock with genu- 
ine Christian principle, the men who won and wore the laurelled 
honours of this seat of learning, flashing as polished jewels in the 
magnificent crown of Humanity ; illustrious for goodness and great- 
ness alike ; destined to be finally set in the gemmed coronet of the 
Saviour's rejoicing. And down along the distant centuries of the 
future, I should trace the influence of this Institution, venerable 
then in years, but ever fresh in power— growing with the colossal 
growth of the country, widening in the sphere of its noble aims, 
richer and richer in the fame of its greatness — its name graven on 
the ages as they pass, its impress stamped upon a multitude of minds 
destined to outlive all ages, measured by the chronicles of time. 




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